Cybersecurity experts are warning that a new type of malicious software known as Gooligan has infected more than 1 million Android devices worldwide and is spreading at a rate of 13,000 devices a day. The malware has the ability to affect everything from Gmail and Google Photos to Google Drive...

There’s fresh reason to worry about hackers invading your privacy and making a grab for your money and health records. At the very moment hacking is expanding exponentially, analysts said, there are hundreds of thousands of cybersecurity jobs left unfilled in the U.S. The extent of this problem...

Have you ever heard of jackspotting? Its a term used to describe the act of forcing an ATM machine to spew cash. It sounds like a myth. But criminals jackspotted ATMs in Thailand and Taiwan earlier this year. More recently, hackers did the same thing to ATMs across Europe. And they did it remotely,...

Question: What are you most thankful, economically, this Thanksgiving weekend? Phil Blair Phil Blair, Manpower Steady growth in the job market: We are seeing workers begin to reenter the job market because they now see opportunity for themselves. We are also seeing slow but steady growth in...

Question: Will higher mortgage rates weaken the housing market? Phil Blair Phil Blair, Manpower YES: It seems the cost of buying a house in San Diego is governed as much by the interest rate as much as it is the sales price. We need to follow through with our city of villages (city land-use...

San Diego’s rising minimum wage has pushed Competitive Edge Research & Communications, a prominent local political consulting and polling firm, to move its call center with about 75 jobs to Texas, said Chief Executive John Nienstedt. “We’re moving the call center to El Paso because California has...

San Diego County added 29,500 jobs from October last year, bringing the unemployment rate to 4.8 percent, up from a revised 4.7 percent in September, state officials said Friday. Here are the top 10 employers looking to hire in October: 1. University of California, San Diego — 1,736 ads 2. Northrop...

Giant malls, big box outlets and Amazon may beckon, but this year, San Diego will out-rank all other cities when it comes to shopping at locally based retailers. That’s according to Yelp, an online forum for rating local businesses that for three years has assembled a list of the top 20 cities...

More Economy

Question: Will the growth of short-term vacation rentals hurt the local hotel business? Phil Blair Phil Blair, Manpower YES: How much is the big question. Frequent users of short-term private rentals are often not the customer that would be willing to pay hotel rates, single rooms for groups...

Trump victory stirs concerns in Tijuana By Sandra Dibble Nov. 9, 2016 7:55 p.m. From the humblest to the most influential, Tijuana’s residents wondered anxiously Wednesday about the effects of a Donald Trump presidency on the region’s future. As newspapers, television broadcasts and radio programs...

Question: What will a Trump economy and economic policy look like in terms of job growth, building up the U.S. manufacturing base, trade policy, infrastructure and fiscal and monetary direction? Phil Blair Phil Blair, Manpower The business community will be unsettled for many months, well into...

Now that California voters have passed Proposition 64, legalizing marijuana use for adults for recreational purposes, what’s next? Here’s a look at seven things that reflect the new landscape in California when it comes to marijuana: 1. You can grow it at home Effective immediately, if you’re...

Question: Will business uncertainty fade away with the end to the election season? Phil Blair Phil Blair, Manpower YES: When the antics of campaigning and the threat of trade wars and border wall construction and reneging on peace treaties fades US businesses will go back to planning for a predictable,...

While “gaining” an hour of sleep Sunday morning sounds like a gift, falling back my actually be a drag on the economy. Daylight saving time is a controversial subject, disrupting sleep cycles twice a year. But, as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. discovered, falling back reduced consumer spending. The report...

San Diego is no longer the worst place to grow wealth in the United States, but it’s not the place to earn your fortune either, according to a study from Bankrate.com. America’s Finest City was notoriously in last place in 2015 out of 18 cities, but it moved up to 15th place this year in the Florida-based...

San Diego County’s economy was still growing in September even as business activity showed signs of waning strength, according to a report released Monday by the USD Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators. Three of four local components of the index showed...

Question: Is the economy rigged? Phil Blair Phil Blair, Manpower NO: We need to trust in our government and private sector that both are functioning under the umbrella of the law. If we develop a paranoia that everything is rigged, we will not invest our money, honor our traditions and maybe never...

It’s like a big Airbnb house you’d share with friends except it’s specifically for workers. That’s the premise of Outsite, which recently opened a location in Encinitas. About 18 months ago, Emmanuel Guisset created Outsite, a place where people can go to work remotely, share a home with other...

If the polls are any indication, California may become the next state to legalize marijuana use by adults 21 or older for recreational purposes. But that does not mean pot shops will suddenly appear on street corners across the state or in San Diego County in particular. In fact, should Proposition...

San Diego had fewer people out of work in September than California and the nation as a whole, state officials reported Friday. Spurred by teacher hiring after the summer break, the region’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.7 percent in September, down from 5 percent in August. The state unemployment...

Question: Regardless of the outcome, will the stock market fall significantly after the Nov. 8 election? Phil Blair Phil Blair, Manpower NO: When Clinton is successful, the market will stabilize and it will be business as usual. If Trump is elected, the market will reflect uncertainty and drop....

A nascent San Diego real estate firm that aims to own buildings used to grow medical marijuana has filed to become publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Innovative Industrial Properties, lead by former BioMed Realty Chief Executive Alan Gold, submitted its prospectus Monday to the U.S....

Question: Should the Federal Reserve be allowed to buy stocks and bonds to combat recessions? Phil Blair, Manpower NO: Doesn’t seem like a great idea. How do they decide what companies to prop up with stock purchases and which ones they let fail. Seems likely to become very political, which the...

San Diego start-ups are pulling in a consistent flow of venture capital through the first nine months of this year – though the amount raised in the third quarter was down from the prior year. Two fundraising reports out this week – the MoneyTree survey and the Dow Jones Venture report – show that...

After 117 years in business, Bumble Bee has learned a thing or two about how to treat employees. Located in the Showley Brothers Candy Factory building in the shadow of Petco Park, the tuna company’s 131 employees enjoy tuition reimbursement for additional schooling, summer half days on Fridays,...

Question: With housing costs rising in San Diego, is Tijuana a viable alternative? Kelly Cunningham Kelly Cunningham, National University System YES: With 14 out of the nation’s 15 least affordable housing markets located in California, including San Diego at 10th, housing costs continue to rise...

The San Diego economy had a good August, led by a gain in local stock prices and increases in residential building permits, said a monthly study from the University of San Diego. There was a nearly 5-point increase from the previous month in the Bloomberg San Diego County Index that has 50 local...

Do you manage millennials in the workplace? If so, “chances are your thoughts are based on negative assumptions about how lazy, entitled and pampered they are,” said Dan Negroni, founder of Launchbox Inc., a San Diego-based millennial consulting firm whose clients include Qualcomm, KPMG and UBS....